No Place That Far
by Mags0607
Summary: He blinked again, but this time saw nothing. He felt weight on his eyes, and struggled to open them. The only thing he knew is that he was somewhere else entirely, but her song was still playing in his ears. [Naley Oneshot]


Hey Guys. No I have not fallen off the face of the earth, and yes I am still writing the rest of my stories. I do apologize for the long delay, but my personal life has been very hectic lately, and there has been a lot going on. I know I should be working on my other fictions, but this was the only thing that would come out of my muddled brain.

Thank you for reading, and please leave a review if you liked it, this is completely different from most of my other stories.

I want to dedicate this to my Cath, my southern twin and my rock, I so wouldn't be standing right now if it wasn't for you. You are the Brooke to my Haley and I can't thank you enough. I love you lots and this is for you and your Naley loving heart.

Set right after the season 3 finale.

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**No Place That Far**

_I can't imagine' any greater fear  
Then waking up' without you here'  
And though the sun' will still shine on'  
My whole world' would all be gone'  
But not for long' _

Two days, thirteen hours and fifteen minutes. That was the exact amount of time that Haley James-Scott had been dressed in her pristine, white wedding gown. A wedding dress that was now stained with tears and mud, a reminder of how her life had turned from complete happiness to utter despair in a matter a moments.

Moments.

It felt like both moments and years since Nathan jumped into the water, and even longer since she had seen his smiling face when he had slyly reminded her of all the things he would do to her once he got her out of that dress.

It seemed like a different lifetime since her world had made any sense, and she knew it wouldn't again until Nathan woke up from the coma he had been in since they rescued him from the water.

"Sweetie, are you sure you don't want to change?"

She looked into Brooke's eyes at the question and almost broke at the statement. Nathan was the only one who was supposed to gently undo the buttons on that dress and she would wait forever to feel his fingers on her skin.

She grabbed the brunette's hand and simply muttered, "I can't."

Brooke looked into Haley's face and understood without a word. She knew the bond that Nathan and Haley shared and knew that her friend was going through the worst pain imaginable. She simply nodded and went back to her place beside the blonde, waiting for the moment that Haley needed her.

Haley sat back down in the chair beside her best friend and said a small prayer of thanks that Brooke was by her side. Because whoever said boys were the stronger sex was clearly mistaken. Dan, Whitey, Skillz and even Lucas, it had all been to much for them to handle. They couldn't sit and wait, they couldn't watch and not be able to do anything. So they had left, and she couldn't blame them. But it still didn't make it any easier.

The only person who had stayed by her side constantly in the small waiting room was Brooke. She didn't push Haley to eat or sleep or even leave. She just sat beside her understanding her need to be there the moment that Nathan woke up.

Once Haley had refused Deb and Karen's gentle nudging to take a shower or get some rest, Brooke had done the same saying 'If Haley is here then so am I.' And she was. They had said very little to each other; Brooke just cracking random jokes to keep Haley from losing her mind, or holding her hand while unknowingly holding Haley together. Haley let out a small smile, the first since the accident, as she watched Brooke bookmark pages in her In Style magazine. It was so funny to her how much she depended on the girl by her side. They hadn't been friends for years, but their friendship was stronger and truer than anything the girls had ever known.

It seemed that Brooke's presence was the grounding force that she needed while her entire world was just waiting in the balance.

Brown eyes met her own as Brooke broke the silence yet again. "Haley is their anything that you need?"

Tears clouded her eyes for the first time in two days as she choked out the reply, "Nathan."

As the tears fell and arms encircled her, she let out her emotions for the first time, scared to actually let the situation sink in fully. Scared that she would never be alright again if anything happened to Nathan.

"Haley, why don't you go talk to him. Its been days."

"I know, but I can't. What if my presence and my words aren't able to bring him back. What if he can't feel me like I feel him. What if its not enough?" Haley cried.

She hadn't been in the hospital room where her unconscious husband lay since he was first admitted to the hospital. She had gotten as far as the door, and then it had been too much.

Brooke pulled the sobbing girl closer and whispered into her ear, "And what if it is?"

-------------

Haley found herself standing at the doorway to his room, willing herself to go in. It was the hardest thing to see, her Nathan, her protector, her love, laying there against the white sheets. Every part of her was screaming just to walk back out and wait, but Brooke's words echoed in her mind, and somehow she found the strength to sit beside him.

After a moment, she reached out to touch him, a chill running down her spine as she felt how cold he was. This wasn't supposed to be how it was, Nathan was always warm, his fire for life fueling him forward. But now he was still and Haley prayed with everything in her that his fire wouldn't be extinguished quite yet.

The tears fell freely as she laid her head upon his chest. The thumping of his heart gave her the strength she needed to talk to him. It seemed that in any state, Nathan's heart belonged to Haley James.

She fingered the gold wedding ban that she had placed on his finger merely days before as she tried to find something to bring him back to her.

"You always have to be the hero, don't you Nathan. You always have to be right. You are the most stubborn man I have ever met."

She paused for a moment, hoping with everything that he would open his eyes and tell her that she was the stubborn one and that he was always right. But the only sound she heard was the beeping of the machines, not the deep voice of her love.

"You know that I'm not going to make it without you," she sobbed. "I can't Nathan. There isn't a part of me that isn't in love with you, and I don't know what I'll do if you leave me. I know that I left before, but I promise now that I won't ever leave your side again if you come back to me."

Still nothing but the beeping of the machines.

"You know, I think back to the first moment I knew you were my future. It was one day when we were sitting in your apartment. You were watching TV and I didn't think you were paying any attention to me. Then you said, 'quit worrying Haley James, we're the real thing.' You didn't even have to see me to read my thoughts. I think that was the exact moment that I fell in love with you. The shy Tutor Girl and Mister Hot Shot, not one thought that we were going to last but you. Thank god you were right."

She was prepared now for the beeping to be her only response, but she hoped that maybe he could still read her thoughts and know what she was feeling without actually seeing her. She prayed that he knew how much she loved him.

She placed one hand on his chest again and one lightly on her stomach before she continued speaking again. "I know that this isn't the right time to say it, but there is something you need to know. I'm pregnant."

She paused as she gently moved his hand to rest on her stomach, the smallest of smiles coming to her lips as she thought of the life they created. "Don't say I never gave you anything."

She squeezed his hand as their tried and true statement left her mouth, He had given her everything, and she hoped that she could do the same in return. She just hoped that he could come back to her.

"Nathan please open your eyes, I need you to wake up and smile that infamous Scott smirk at me. I just need… you. That's all. Nothing else matters."

She knew that she couldn't say anything else. So like the very first time that she ever let herself sing to him, she closed her eyes and began to softly sing the only song that she could think of.

" _If I had to run' if I had to crawl  
If I had to swim a hundred rivers' just to climb a thousand walls'  
Always know that I will find a way' to get to where you are'  
There's no place that far _

_  
It wouldn't matter why we're apart'  
'lonely minds or two stubborn hearts  
Nothing short of God above  
Could turn me away from your love  
I need you that much "_

_--------_

Nathan found himself standing on the Rivercourt. He didn't know exactly who he was or where he was, all he could see was the goal and the hoop, and somehow that felt right.

Walking over to center court, he picked up the ball and felt a familiar sensation as the leather touched his skin. He heard words, voices, but they were too far away to hear. So doing the only thing that felt right, he tossed the ball through the hoop and watched as it bounced off the rim and back towards him. The sound of the ball on the pavement made the voices ring louder in his head.

_Remember, 20 shots -- no less. _

_Nathan, make the basket._

_It doesn't matter if you can't make the shot._

The voices rang louder as the ball drew near. Picking it up, he shot, missing once again. Shot after shot, not one went through the hoop. Every time he shot, the voices rang louder as he started to recognize them.

First it was Dan, then Whitey, then Lucas, and even his own. Louder and louder they got as his shots become more desperate. He tried to step off the court but his feet were like lead. It seemed that basketball was his curse and his savior. The only thing in life that mattered.

Hurling the ball one final time, he watched as the ball sailed through the hoop. It wasn't the voices he heard this time as it went through, it was something different entirely.

_There isn't a part of me that isn't in love with you._

He knew that voice. He knew that girl. And somehow he knew that with those words, basketball was no longer the only thing that mattered.

He blinked his eyes and found himself no longer at the Rivercourt but at the docks.

There he could see a girl and he could see another version of himself. The girl was blurry and he couldn't see her face but somehow he knew that he had to get to her. He knew that she was important, he knew that she was everything to him, he just didn't know who she was.

He sat there as he watched his other self interact with the girl. He heard her telling him off, he heard her telling him that his bluster didn't matter. And then he heard something that made it all connect.

_Don't say I never gave you anything._

Haley.

Suddenly he knew that he had to get back to her, he needed to tell her he loved her. He needed her to break him out of the fog. He just needed her.

He tried to get to her, but the second that he tried to reach her, she was gone. He screamed out to the night, but it was no use.

He found himself running. There was no sound, nothing to see, it was just a white room with no end. He saw her face flash before his eyes, and then he saw her begin to fade away. Some how he knew that he had to fight to get back to her.

He continued to run until the weight on his arms and legs brought him to a halt. Images started replaying in his mind. The first time he saw her. The first time her lips touched his. The first time he told her he loved her. Their first time making love, getting married, the fights, the make-ups, the break-ups. It all flashed before his face as he felt wetness on his.

He looked around him and saw nothing but rain. He felt nothing but cold, and he couldn't make his arms and legs move. He was trapped.

Suddenly the images began to fade, and the echo of her voice and her laughter began to get drowned out by the deluge before him. He found himself sinking with no strength to carry on. The voices swirled around him, and he could no longer hear hers in the downpour. He was about to give up, let the water overtake him until he heard her loud and clear once again.

_Nothing else matters._

That was all he needed to carry on. He was going to fight with everything he had into him to get back to her. He had to, it seemed that life wasn't worth it without Haley by his side.

He began to run again, his strength renewed as his heard a tiny whisper echo in his mind.

The whisper grew louder as he found himself in Karen's café. The lights were dim, the room dark, but he could make out her tiny form sitting at a piano bench.

He came close to her for the first time, her face more beautiful than he remembered as the words she sung registered in his mind.

_If I had to run' if I had to crawl  
If I had to swim a hundred rivers' just to climb a thousand walls'  
Always know that I will find a way' to get to where you are'  
There's no place that far _

Than, as if all time stood still, she opened her eyes and looked at him. And that was all he needed.

He blinked again, but this time saw nothing. He felt weight on his eyes, and struggled to open them. The only thing he knew is that he was somewhere else entirely, but her song was still playing in his ears.

_If I had to run' if I had to crawl  
If I had to swim a hundred rivers' just to climb a thousand walls'  
Always know that I will find a way' to get to where you are'  
There's no place that far _

-------

Haley let the last whisper of the song die on her lips as she wiped away the silent tears that had fallen while she sang.

She was almost scared to open her eyes, knowing that she would once again be met with the still form of her husband and the beeping of the machines.

Then she felt it.

The tiniest flutter against her hands. She watched in awe as his eyes opened and she saw his dark blue orbs for the first time in what felt like forever.

"I love you." They were the first words she heard and the only words that mattered. She found herself crying harder. Her Nathan was back, he was okay, and everything would work out now.

She brought the water to his lips and then hugged him as hard as she could, nearly smothering his face with butterfly kisses.

"Nathan, thank God. I love you. I was so scared. I was scared you weren't going to come back to me."

Nathan wrapped his arms around her tighter, finding strength just in having her with him, and whispered, "I'll always come back to you. Always and Forever."

Haley leaned down once again and brought his lips to her own. She needed him like she needed to breathe and he needed her in the same way. They were together, fighting against all odds time and time again, overcoming every obstacle just to be together.

It didn't matter that they were young, that even after their vow renewal had only been together for about a year. They were in love, about to start a family, and nothing would tear them apart.

"You know," Nathan whispered as she lay with her head upon his chest listening to the beat of his heart, "I heard you."

She looked at him teary eyed once again, "You did? I wasn't sure if you could hear me." she asked surprised.

He just looked at her and whispered, "There's no place that far."

_Baby there's no place that far _


End file.
